Coolest Teasure Island Cake 52

by Tamsin
(Byfleet, Surrey, England)

Homemade Teasure Island Cake

My daughter was turning three and wanted a pirate party! So I designed and made this treasure island cake. I baked two bases; a large rectangular one in a roasting tray and a round 'island' in a Pyrex bowl.

The cake was assembled by covering the rectangle in blue fondant icing (spread cake with apricot or mixed fruit jam first for the icing to stick), then placing the round cake on top and covering that with yellow icing as the island - leave a little extra icing before you cut it off to add a beach. Top tip - when rolling out ready-made fondant icing, use a little cornflour with the icing sugar to dust your worktop.

For decoration I used a duplo person to which I added a cardboard pirate hat and eye-patch, painted two wooden bricks with gold paint and held them together with blutac, drew lines on with a marker pen to make a treasure chest. I also added the smallest chocolate gold coins I could find and a small padlock.

I also added a rowing boat (Mega-Blocks) and palm tree (Happyland?). I drew some waves with piped white icing and a blue edible-ink pen.

As you can probably see, I'm not an artist and certainly a beginner in icing cakes - but this was very easy and, I think, looks very effective, despite having a few problems along the way. When I baked the round cake in the Pyrex bowl - I filled it too full and the cake overflowed in the oven! As this was the day before her birthday and I had to ice it that evening, I didn't have time to bake another one, so I had to make do! Hence the island has a dip in it from the mixture overflowing and me opening the oven door to sort it out! Nightmare!

Nevertheless, I enjoyed making it and loved my little girl's face when she saw it! Also, family and friends were very impressed that I had made it and said it looked great!